Top iOS Scuba Apps to Use as Tools

All of us with iOS devices love to use them for as many day-to-day functions as possible. For those of you who are scuba diving fanatics there are loads of apps available to help you plan, log and even carry out your scuba dives and we would like to draw your attention to five of the best iOS scuba apps.

Free Scuba App- TideApp

TideApp is a crucial app, which can be used for dive planning and a number of other maritime functions such as boating and fishing. The app gives you access to tidal charts and data, both current and future. Use of this app can be of great aid in evaluating safety conditions for a dive site and the app includes tidal charts from areas all around the globe. The app is available as a free download from the App Store.

Free Scuba App- iGills

The iGills dive computer app is perhaps the most exciting development for divers, using an iPhone. Used in conjunction with an iGills iPhone underwater housing, the app transforms the iPhone into a highly advanced dive computer. Connected to a depth sensor in the housing the app logs your dive from submersion to surfacing and even allows you to take underwater photos with the iPhone during the dive, which will be entered at their exact time in the digital dive log. Additional app features include a digital compass, which can be accessed during the dive for navigation. The app is currently available for free from the app store, but requires purchase of an iGills underwater housing to function.

Free Scuba App- London Diving Chamber

Any app that could be of assistance during a life-saving exercise is of immediate interest to most divers. The London Diving Chamber app as well as being a dive logbook, provides a chamber locator for decompression emergencies, which use GPS location to find the closest recompression facility to you. An A to Z of dive medicine is provided as well a useful dive incident utilities allowing you to add all the dive incident details including symptoms and dive details. The app is available as a free download from the App Store.

Free Scuba App- iBooks

While no one goes underwater to read, the iBooks app is nonetheless a very useful tool for a dive professional to load all of their manuals and instructional materials onto. A dive boat is the last place you want to carry loads of heavy ring binders, and the iBooks app allows all diver manuals to be uploaded in PDF or ePub format so that you can quickly access them from your iOS device. This allows you to always have your diver instructional reference materials on-hand and make them much more portable. iBooks is available as a free download from the App Store.

DiveBuddy Pro

DiveBuddy Pro is a useful app for scuba divers to plan, log and document the dives that they do. Eliminating the need to carry a paper logbook it also has sections for you to list your diving qualifications. So much more than a diver’s logbook the app has localized GPS to add to and locate dive sites on the database, prior to and during a trip, and the dive log utility allows you to upload photos from your dive, supports Nitrox dive planning and has air print functionality and import/export functionality to add dive logs and share your experiences. The app is available from the App Store for $10.99.

If any divers have more apps that they find useful then we would love to hear about them and let all iOS users know in an effort to improve dive enjoyment and safety.